Sheet-feeding machine.



P. L. (moss. v SHEET FEEDING MACHINE.

.APILIOAIION FILED APR. so, 1908.

Patented 'Jan. 24, I911.

wizeasaa AT T oEEcE.

[THANK L. cnoss or woLLAsToN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB. ocnoss PAP RFEEDER COMPANY,- A CORPORATION OF MAINE. 7

SHEET-FEEDING MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK L. 'CRoss, a citizen of the United States,residing at, Wollaston, in the county of Norfolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSheet- Feeding Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of 'the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

A The invention relates to thatclass of paper feeding machines in whicha bank of feathoperate properly upon the front of the bank uniformpoint.

of sheets in this class ofmachines and may properly'separate theindividual sheets, the

bank of sheets should be so fed to the separating devices that the frontedgeof the bank will be maintained at a substantially So long as thefront edge of the bank of sheets is at this point or in advance of it,there should be no feed of the -bank, but as soon as the removal ofsuccessive sheets from the front of the bank carries the front'edgeofthe bank back of this point, there should be a feed of the bank, andthe feed should continue untilthe front edge of the bank is brought upto the proper point.

It is the object of the present invention I to provide a new andimproved mechanism for feeding the bank of feathered sheets which willautomatically act to maintain the front edge of the bank at asubstantially uniform point during the separation and removal of theindiv dual sheets from the front of the bank.

.In accordance with'one feature of the invention, the mechanism forfeeding forward the bank of feathered sheets is automatically controlledto maintain the front edge of the bank at; a substantially uniform pointby a controlling device which is arranged to be covered by the front ofthe bank when the bank is in proper position for the effectiveseparation of the sheets, and to be uncovered when the front edge ofthebank is back of the proper point, The controlling device,-

Specification of Letters Patent.

' table.

Application filed April 30, 1908. Serial No. 430,112.

andithe means by which it causes feeding" movements of the bank to beeffected when uncovered, and prevents such'feeding move- Patented JamarQ1911.

ments when covered, maybe of any suitable and desirable form andarrangement, and may be varied to suit theform ofconstruc tion of thesheet separating devices or of the other parts of the bank feedingmechanism with which they are combined.

While the invention may be embodied with advantage in machines providedwith any of the various forms of sheet separating de- .vices, it is, inits preferred form, especially designed to meet the requirements of anefficient bank feed in machines in which combing rolls are employed asthe sheet separatmg means.

The invention has accordingly 7 been illustrated as embodied in amachine A in which thesheet separating devices consist of combingrolls'operated and controlledby mechanism similar to the mechanism"illustrated and described in Patent No.

812,260, dated February 13, 1906.

The various features of the invention will be readily understood from aninspection of the accompanying drawing, in which'the fig-' lure is aside elevation partly in section showing a machine"similar' to thatillustrated in the patent above referred to provided-with the presentinvention in its preferred-form.

As shown in the drawing, the bank of v feathered sheets is fed to thefeed table 1 from a supply table 2, the front end of which is arrangedover the rear end of the feed The bank of sheets passes from-thesupplytable to the feed table through {a curved throat formed between the drum3 f and curved guides 4. The bank'upon the supply table rests upon feedtapes 5 which I pass around the drum 8, and the bank of sheets upon thefeed ta'ble. rests upon the feed tapes 6 which pass over the pulleys 7and 8." The feed tapes 6 and drum 3 are operated at proper intervals toadvance or feed forward the bank of feathered sheets through aratchetwheel 9 which is connected through suitable gearing 10 with the drum 3and'pulley 7 over which the tapes 6 pass. vThe-ratchet wheel is operatedby means of a feed pawl 11 pivoted to the upper end of a pawl carryinglever 12. The lower end of the pawl carrying lespring 15 which surroundsa rod 16 pivoted to the end of the lever 14', and mounted to slidethrough a. pin 17. The lever 14 is moved toward the right, or in adirection to retract the feed pawl 11, by means of a, crank pin 18carried on the end of the cam shaft 19, and connected with the lever bya link 20. The link 20 is connected with the lever 14 through a slot 21formed in the end of the lever and arranged to ride over a pin 22carried by the lever. I I

' When the lever 14 is free to move toward the left, the pin 22 willbear against the lefthand end of the slot 21 as the link 20 isreciprocated by the rotation of the crank pin 18, and the lever 14 willbe moved toward the left by the spring to give the feed pawl a feedingmovement, and will be moved toward the right to retract the pawl by theengagement of the end of the slot 21 with the pin 22. If the movement ofthe lever 14 toward the left is prevented during the movement of thelink toward the left, the link 20 will reciprocate idly back and forth,the slot 21 playing back and forth over the pin 22. If-the movement ofthe lever 14 towardthe left is arrested during the movementof the link20 toward the left, the pin 22 will continue inengagement with theleftliand end of the slot 21 until the lever is arrested, and thereafterthe link 20 will move idly toward the left. On the return stroke of thelink 20 the left-hand end of the slot 21 will reengage the pin 22 andreturn the .lever '14 to its retracted position. The action of the bankfeeding mechanism may there fore be prevented by preventing the movementof-the lever '14, or the feeding move- ,ni'ent of the bank may bearrested at any time during the vfeeding movement of the bank feedingmechanism, by arrestmg the movement of the lever '14. The movement ofthe lever 14 is prevented or arrested during the operation of themachine to secure 4 the proper feeding of the bank of sheets bycontrolling mechanism which will be hereinafter described. The sheets atthe front end of the bank of sheets upon the feed table 1 2 are actedupon by two combing rolls, one of which; is i ndi'cated at 23. Theserolls are 10- cated i saoni each side of the feed table, and

24 are'so located that the front edge of the sheet is brought betweenthe delivery rolls 25 and 26 by the action of the combing rolls. Thedelivery rolls 25 are carried in arms 27, and are lowered immediatelyafter the comb- "ing rolls are thrown out of action, so that the topsheet, which has been separated and fed forward by the combing rolls, iscarried away by the deliveryrolls. After the top sheet has been thusremoved, and the rear edge of the sheet has passed the delivery rolls,the roll 25 is raised, and the combing rolls are again thrown intoaction.

In order that the sheets may be properly separated by the combing rolls,and individual sheets presented to the delivery rolls, the front edge ofthe bank of sheets should be such a distance back of the trips 24 thatthe combing rolls will effect the proper separation of the sheets inadvancing the top sheet into position to be seized by the deliveryrolls. At the same time the front edge of the bank of sheets should notbe so great a distance back of the trips 24 that the combing deviceswill not advance the top sheet sufficiently to bring it into position tobe seized by the delivery rolls. The frontedge of the bank of sheetsshould therefore be maintained at a substantially fixed distance fromthe tripping devices 24, which distance will depend upon the separationeffected by the combing rolls during the I time which they may remain inaction.

In the construction shown, the action of the bank feeding mechanism iscontrolled to maintain the front edge of the bank at a substantiallyuniform distance from the tripping devices by controlling the feedingmovements of the lever 14 through which feeding movements are impartedto the bank. The devices for controlling the feeding movement of thebank consist of a ratchet bar 28 and a pawl 29 adapted to be moved intoand out of engagement with the ratchet teeth on"the bar. One end of theratchet bar is pivoted to the lower end of the lever 14, and the otherend is supported in a block 30 which'is pivotally supported upon a rod31. qThe pawl 29 is secured to a rock shaft 32 which is connectedthrough an arm 33 and link 34 with one end of a lever 35. The lever 35is pivoted below the 2 forward end of the feed table 1, and carries acontrolling finger 36 which projects up through the feed table near itscenter. The weight of the parts is such that the lever 35 tends to swinginto the position indicated in the-drawing, with the controlling fingerprojecting up above the surface of the feed table. lVith the partsinthis-position, the

awl 29' is raised out of engagement withv the teeth of the. ratchet bar28, so that the le ver 14 is free to move and to impart feedingmovementsto the bank feeding mechanism.

"Guide fingers: 37 are provided, which over lie the front edge of thebank of sheets, and hold it down in position to depress the controllingfinger 3G, and thus holdthe lever 35 in posit-ion to retain the pawl 29in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet bar 28. When the pawl 29 isthus held in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet bar 28, movementof the lever 14 toward the left is prevented, and thus the action of thebank feeding mechanism is prevented or arrested.

When the front end of the bank of sheets covers the controlling finger36, the controlling finger will be depressed and maintained in positionto hold the pawl 29 in engagement. with the ratchet teeth on the bar 28,and thus prevent the action of. the bank feeding mechanism. When theremoval of successive sheets from the front ofthe bank carries the frontedge of the bank back of the controlling finger 36, so that thecontrolling finger is uncovered, the lever 35 will be free to swing intoposition to lift the pawl 29 and hold it above the ratchet teeth in thebar 28. The bank feeding mechanism will now advance the bank of sheets,until the front. edge, of the bank ridesover the controlling finger 36,thus covering and depressing the finger and swinging the pawl 29 intoengagementwith the ratchet teeth on the bar 28. Whenever the front edgeof the bank of sheets is behind the controlling finger 36, a forwardfeeding movement will therefore be imparted to the bank of sheets, andthis movement, or successive feeding movements will continue until thefront edge of the bank rides over the controlling finger, and thusarrests the feeding movement, or prevents subsequent feeding movementsof the bank. 7

In order that the position of the front edge of the pawl may be adjustedin accordance with the character of the paper being operated upon by thecombing rolls, the cont-rolling finger 36 is adjustably secured to thelever 35 by means of ascrew 38 passing through a slot formed in the baseof the controlling finger.

Having set forth the nature and object of the invention, andspecifically described one form of apparatus in which it may beembodied, what I claim is 1. A sheet feeding machine, having, incombination, sheet separating means, a controller for controlling theseparating means by the sheet, mechanism for feeding a bank of featheredsheets, and a controlling device connected and arranged to render thefeed ing mechanism inactive when covered by the front of the bank and torender the feeding mecl'ianism active when uncovered thereby,substantially as described.

2. A sheet feeding machine, having, in

combination, a con'ibing roll, a sheet 03-- erated controlling trip forthrowing t e combing roll out of action, mechanism for feeding a bank offeathered sheets'to the combing roll, a controller mounted to extendacross the front edge of the bank, and means rendered active upon themovement of the controller by the bank for arresting the feeding actionof the bank feeding mechanism, substantially as described.

3. A sheet feeding machine, having, in combination, a combing roll,mechanism controlled by the" sheet for throwing the combing roll out ofaction, mechanism for feeding 'a bank of feathered sheets to the combingroll, a pawl and ratchet connected to control thefeeding movements ofthefeeding mechanism, a controller, and connections for engaging thepawl with the ratchet when the controller is in engagement with thebank, substantially as described.

at. A sheet feeding machine, having, in combination, sheet separatingmeans, a controller for controlling the separating means by the sheet,mechanism for feeding a bank of feathered sheets to the separatingmeans, a' pawl and ratchet connected to control the feeding movements ofthe feeding mechanism, a second controller, and connections for engagingthe pawl with the ratchet when the second controller is in engagementwith the bank, substantially as described.

5. A- sheet feeding machine, having, in combination, a combing roll,mechanism controlled by the sheet for throwing the combing roll out ofaction, mechanism for feeding a bank of feathered sheets, and acontrolling device connected and arranged to render the feedingmechanism inactive when covered by the front of the bank and to renderthe feeding mechanism active when uncovered thereby, substantially asdescribed.

6. A sheet feeding machine, having, in combination, sheet separatingmeans, mechanism for feeding a bank of feathered sheets, a ratchetconnected to move with the feeding mechanism, a pawl for engaging andarresting the feeding movement of the ratchet, and acontrollercot'iperating with the front edge of the bank after the sheet acted onby the separating means has been removed to control the engagement ofthe pawl with the ratchet, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK L. oRoss. Witnesses ANNIE C. RICHARDSON, N. D. MCPHAIL.

